Used to be the only people wearing the sports jerseys that Peter Capolino produced were guys stuck in the good old days.
“My career began [by] appealing to 35- to 75-year-old males who are mostly period baseball fans,” said Capolino, owner of Mitchell & Ness in Philadelphia.
Now his products are worn by the likes of Will Smith, Big Boi and Jay-Z, part of a trend that has seen retro baseball, basketball and football jerseys become ingrained in hip-hop culture.
Retro–or throwback–jerseys are faithful reproductions of what an athlete wore, right down to the material. There are also “authentic” jerseys, which are replicas and differ in the material used, and mass market versions that aren’t as complete (no names on the back, for example).
It’s the retros, though, that are at the heart of the current fashion trend.
“In some ways it’s not new. The retro aspect of it is new,” said Faust Capobianco, president of Majestic Athletics of Bangor, Pa., which produces authentic versions of old jerseys. “But younger consumers, the hip-hop culture, have embraced jerseys, especially the authentic product–like what’s worn on the field of play–for years.”
“To me it’s sort of accidental that it landed in hip-hop culture,” said Jerry Cohen, who in 1987 founded Ebbets Field Flannels, a Seattle-based athletic wear manufacturer. “I’ve seen [uniforms as fashion] come around now, really, this is the third time.”
So how did we get hip-hop performers dressing like a Cub first baseman/outfielder from a half-century ago?
Capolino points to Distant Replay, a store in Atlanta, which is also headquarters of Def Jam Records South and other recording companies.
“These young artists would stop off at Distant Replay between recording sessions or while they were in Atlanta, and they would pick up very colorful, vintage baseball jerseys,” Capolino said.
Next thing he knew, he was famous. At least his products were.
“In 2000 and 2001, my jerseys started popping up on MTV, BET and VH1,” Capolino said. “I think I had them in 41 stores nationally as of 2001. I now have over 1,000 stores nationally.”
Ebbets Field Flannels had a brush with greatness more than a decade ago when director Spike Lee started wearing its jerseys.
Among the products Ebbets Field Flannels sells are jerseys under the Stall & Dean label, which are big with celebrities such as Lee (he’s partial to Negro League jerseys, such as the Bacarach Giants), hip-hop star 50 Cent (big on pieces from the Negro League and the Rucker playground street-hoop tournament in Harlem) and Busta Rhymes (he has just about one of everything).
What makes a certain jersey hot? Design, color, the city of the teams represented … it could be almost anything.
“Sean Combs, he likes jerseys that have a number 1 on them and that relate to New York and New Jersey, because that’s where he’s from,” Capolino said.
“The consumers certainly tie into the authenticity of the garments,” Capobianco added, “but also it has to do with the fashion aspect. Our most popular jerseys–the ’85 Houston Astros [with striping], the White Sox ’80s jersey with ‘SOX’ across the chest, and late ’70s San Diego Padres jerseys [in brown and gold]–have unique design elements.”
His company’s line of products includes basketball tank tops ($60-$80) and shooting shirts ($70-$150), satin baseball jackets ($100-$120), wool baseball jackets ($200-$250) and replica jerseys ($150-$200).
The more recent “vintage” items have been huge for Mitchell & Ness, which began with the old-time jerseys then graduated to something more contemporary after Capolino got some advice at home.
“My wife said that a young man’s nostalgia is more modern. My nostalgia, most of the players are dead. So my wife told me to stop making the [jerseys] of . . . all the dead Brooklyn Dodgers. She said, you gotta make jerseys from the ’70s and ’80s.”
Mitchell & Ness soon was turning out items such as Nolan Ryan’s 1980 Houston Astros jersey and Ryne Sandberg’s 1984 Cubs jersey. Not only did they resonate with a younger audience, they were easier to produce because they’re polyester double-knits, a more contemporary material. (Prices range from $175 to $500.)
Stall & Dean, on the other hand, is sticking with older stuff, highlighting teams that no longer exist–baseball clubs from the Negro and Cuban Leagues; teams from the Rucker tournament; and football jerseys from pro teams such as the Brooklyn Tigers and the Hawaiian Warriors.
Instead of polyester, they’re made of material that’s an exact replica of what was used in the jersey’s era.
“A big part of my job is detective work, finding these fabrics and convincing people to make them again for us, which isn’t always easy,” Cohen said.
The finished products range from $235 for baseball jerseys to $400 for jackets, not petty cash for most, but, “like anything trendy, it hits, people see it, and then they want more,” Cohen said.
Getting in the game: 1. Around Chicago, Mitchell & Ness products are sold at Tony’s Sports, The Grandstand, The Lark and Breyer’s. 2. Stall & Dean jerseys can be purchased online at www.stallanddean.com. 3. Majestic’s products can be found at the Finish Line, Foot Locker and Champs Sports stores or at www.majesticathletic.com.
A congressman is an expert in the field
When you list key names in the popularizing of retro jerseys–rappers such as OutKast and athletes such as Allen Iverson–don’t forget Bill Lipinski.
Or, more properly, U.S. Rep. William O. Lipinski (D-Ill.).
For years, the 11-term congressman from Chicago’s Southwest Side has had a hand in what shows up in stores.
“He’s my head researcher for basketball, baseball and football,” said Peter Capolino, owner of Mitchell & Ness, the Philadelphia-based company that reproduces vintage sports jerseys.
Lipinski traces his interest in old uniforms to the days he spent at the original Comiskey Park.
“My No. 1 team has always been the White Sox,” he said from Washington. “But my No. 2 team was the St. Louis Browns. I used to see the Brownies play every time they came to Comiskey Park, back in 1949, ’50, ’51, ’52, ’53. The colors that they had were orange and brown. And I thought that the uniforms they had were extremely attractive.”
Over the years, Lipinski became something of an expert, collecting books and magazines that illustrated uniforms.
Several years ago, he found a copy of a mid-’40s Sox jersey–something he’d longed for since he was a kid–and tracked down the manufacturer, Mitchell & Ness.
“I ended up calling the guy [Capolino],” he said. “We developed an excellent relationship and a rapport … so in my spare time I started researching uniforms for him. … And I just got deeper and deeper.”
If Lipinski has his way, some of the next jerseys that reach the market will be from the old National Basketball League, with teams such as the Chicago American Gears, the Sheboygan Redskins and the Waterloo Hawks.
“[Capolino] likes to manufacture and sell relatively recent vintage stuff,” Lipinski said. “And I like to go back to the 1930s and the 1940s. So I come up with these jerseys and we have to have a discussion whether he should manufacture them. He keeps telling me my stuff is too esoteric.”
Speaking of esoteric, he researched and then had Capolino produce a Max Zaslofsky basketball jersey from the 1946-47 Chicago Stags, which he gave to White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who’s also a jersey buff.
“Jerry has a lot of my stuff,” Capolino said. “He grew up in Brooklyn, and he’s a real sports historian. So he’s got a lot of White Sox stuff, a lot of Brooklyn Dodgers stuff, old sweaters and jackets.
“And I’m sure that Reinsdorf has no idea that every young hip-hop artist in the country wants to own exactly what he already owns.”
–W.H.
